Former budget director called for committee to meet again after April revenues came in $90 million short of estimates

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A former state budget director is calling for a committee to redo its annual revenue estimate after April tax dollars came in $90 million short. But legislative committee leaders say it is too late to factor any new estimates into the budget approved this week.

Legislators passed the budget days after getting the news that April tax receipts came in $93 million short and the shortfalls could continue into the next fiscal year that begins in July. Gov. Sam Brownback signed it late this week.

Duane Goossen, budget director for Govs. Bill Graves, Kathleen Sebelius and Mark Parkinson, said this week that the state's Consensus Revenue Estimating group should meet again and redo their numbers because of the massive shortfall.

But the head of the Senate budget committee, Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, said legislators can wait until the committee convenes again in November to take another look at the state's finances.

"We will not be back in session until after the November estimates, so it really does not matter significantly one way or the other if they meet again before then," Masterson said. "We will have actuals (tax receipts) through December and the November estimates to look at when it really counts."

“I don’t know that the time spent to re-estimate going forward will provide any material information for me to do my job," Suellentrop said this week. "I think the balance of the estimate we can foresee in the near future will be adequate."

Suellentrop said the Legislature has other tools at its disposal to estimate expected tax revenue.

The Consensus Revenue Estimating Group is comprised of representatives of the executive branch's Division of the Budget, the Department of Revenue, the Legislative Research Department, and economists from The University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Wichita State University.

The estimates the group produces twice a year are described as a "tool used by both the governor and the Legislature to determine State General Fund revenue."

Goossen, who now works for the Kansas Health Institute, said the estimates are an important benchmark that elected officials and the general public can use to gauge how much the state is projected to take in versus how much it has promised to spend. Goossen said if shortfalls like the one in April continue, that picture looks markedly different than the one the estimating group released a month ago.

“That’s important information because if the state is really that far off, then the bank balance is essentially gone (next year) and the next Legislature is going to be facing a situation in which spending exceeds revenue by quite a bit and there would be no balance to give them flexibility in dealing with that,” Goossen said.

Goossen said it is "very unusual" for the revenue estimating group to be off by as much as it was in April. Brownback and his cabinet blamed the big dip in revenue on President Barack Obama's federal policies. But Goossen, who had cautioned since January about major revenue swings due to the near-miss of the federal "fiscal cliff," said the effects of federal policy should have been predicted and factored in.

The top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jerry Henry, D-Atchison, said having the estimating group take another look might be useful.

"You know, that would be probably helpful if the consensus estimating group didn’t take into consideration the issues that caused us to have all these shortfalls," Henry said. "I think the more information we have and the more accurate information we have would be helpful. The problem is, what are going to do with the information once we get it?”

With the budget already approved, Henry said the Legislature could only take action on new numbers if Brownback called a special session.

Goossen said making new estimates and announcing them publicly would be valuable for transparency's sake.

"Everyone should be operating with the best, most accurate information they can possibly have," Goossen said. "What decisions they make with that information, that’s of course up to the lawmakers. (But) if lawmakers are being advised that the revenue estimate is off and have some knowledge of that, the public should be advised of that as well so everybody who’s looking at this can have an accurate picture.”

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from Masterson, who's claim to fame is his personal bankruptcy, instead of a former budget director is rather odd. I know that when I choose a financial advisor, I make sure he has filed bankruptcy at least twice before I hire him.

No wonder Brownback had that look on his face on the front page, he should be embarrassed that he tried to put the state's shortfall on President Obama. How could you not expect shortfalls when you aren't taxing anyone but the middle class and 190,000 businesses are getting away with murder. This is so sad. Look out property taxes, here it comes again.

“Brownback noted when he took office, the state had $876.05 in the state’s bank account. This year the state has about $500 million cash on hand.” – McPherson Sentinel

Ahhh, clever! We see what you did there. You took the budget balance at the end of the fiscal year, after it had been spent (apple). Then compared it to a balance in the middle of the different year (orangutan). We think you may have mis-underestimated your zinger Governor.

The Governor has taken the end of the fiscal year July 2010 budget number of $876.05 and claimed it as his starting balance. But he became Governor in January 2011; six months into the next fiscal year. He seems to be using math evasion, not math equations!

TOPEKA -- Tax revenue in April dropped 45 percent from a year ago, the Kansas Department of Revenue announced Wednesday.

The state's revenue for the year is $92.9 million less than projected earlier this month....

Personal income tax revenue has decreased by $508 million compared with this point last fiscal year. That category also accounted for the discrepancy between Wednesday's numbers and estimates released earlier in the month. Income tax revenue was $89.6 million lower than expected.

A fundraising letter sent out by Gov. Sam Brownback’s re-election campaign misstates the amount of money that was in the state’s coffers the day Brownback took office.

The letter, sent out earlier this month and signed by the governor, refutes criticism from political opponents and solicits donations to the governor’s re-election campaign. It includes a list of accomplishments.

But a claim at the top of the list about how much more money is the state’s bank account since the governor took office mixes amounts with the wrong dates.

“When I was sworn in, State Treasurer Ron Estes informed me that the state had a shocking $876.05 in the bank. But as of January 1st, that amount has grown to $764 million on hand,” the letter states.

Cash on hand is how much money the state has available to write checks on a specific date. It fluctuates daily as the state takes in revenue and pays its bills.